The time has come...

Well, I can't believe it, but I am down to the last couple days of this pregnancy.  So crazy.  My doctor said he would be fine starting me a week early again (we did with Aivree too) so that means that tomorrow night, June 7th, I go to the hospital to get started on the Cervidel and then the next morning (June 8th), they will start me on the Pitocin and we'll be able to meet our baby girl that day!  Such a surreal feeling knowing that you are going to have a baby in two days.  I remember thinking that with Aivree..."I'm going to have a baby today."  So weird.  But, that's the way it is with me and my body because it doesn't seem to want to progress on its own.  With Anisten and Aivree I got started and had hardly progressed at all when I went in.  With this one I have progressed a little which is  a good change.  The doctor said I'm at a 2 and that my cervix is really soft.  So definitely more than I was with the other two.  Maybe that means this labor will go faster.  I sure hope so.  I'd love to have a baby during the day instead of laboring all day long first.  We'll just have to see how it goes though.  As long as all goes well and she's healthy, that's what is important.

This past week has been pretty crazy trying to get ready for a newborn to come home.  Unfortunately we've had sickness in our house.  Aivree had this horrible cold this past month that seriously lasted forever.  She woke up every night for almost two weeks because she was coughing or couldn't breathe or who knows why.  So not fun.  She finally got over it and had slept through the night for about two or three nights and then Anisten woke up one morning feeling really sick.  She had a fever and then threw up.  So sad.  She just laid around for two days straight and couldn't do much of anything.  She ended up throwing up three different times.  It took her a few days to recover too.  This was just last week and we were all so worried that we'd all get it too, but luckily we didn't.  Just poor Ani.  She's finally been feeling better the past couple of days and got her appetite back. 

 I was actually thinking last week that it was really good that this baby wasn't here yet, because I don't know how I'd be able to take care of all these sick kids plus a newborn.  I also noticed this past week that I started feeling sick, but not with the stomach flu.  More like a cold.  I got a fever/sore throat as well as a stuffy/runny nose and now I've got a cough to go with it.  This baby's going to come out and none of us will be able to be around her for fear of getting her sick!  Hopefully she has a good immune system to start with.  This has been such a warm spring, it's weird that we're still getting sick.  Hopefully this is the end of it for awhile.

So besides the sickness, we're doing pretty good.  Rob's schedule has been much better the past couple of weeks because he was working around here (much closer to home) and we're excited because he gets a paid week off after the baby comes.  It'll be good to help get into the swing of things.  The girls are very excited about their baby sister coming although I'm not sure they quite understand everything about that yet.  It's always hard for the older siblings when a new baby comes.  There will be lots of adjustments going on I'm sure, but I have no doubt they will love this baby as much as a baby can be loved.  That is actually one thing about this pregnancy that I am going to miss...I just love it when they come up to my tummy randomly and give it a kiss and say "Hi baby Alivia!"  One day I was just walking with Aivree and she stopped me to give my belly a kiss.  It's seriously so cute.  They love to feel her moving around and they always mention her in their prayers.  I think they'll be glad to get their mom back too.  I've run out of lap room and I always ask them to pick stuff up for me because I'm afraid I won't get back up if I bend down. :)  They're such good girls and I can't believe we'll be having another little pig-tailed girl running around here soon.  I'm so excited for her to come, I just wish there was some other way to get her here.  haha  Not looking forward to the whole labor/delivery part of this process, but it will be fine.  So worth it in the end.

This is embarrassing, but for some reason I felt like I should document this pregnancy more than I have on my previous pregnancies.  Maybe because its probably my last.  Not that I've really done that well at documenting it, but compared to my other pregnancies where I have maybe one picture of myself the entire pregnancy, this is a little better.  Although I feel enormous and ugly, it's still an amazing thing to be a mother and carry a little one inside you and it will be neat to remember someday.  Here are some "lovely" pictures of me as this pregnancy has progressed.

Week 4

 Week 18

 Week 24

 Week 33

 Week 38 (almost 39), two days before delivery!  Huge, I know.

So the next post will most likely be of our sweet little newborn girl.  Crazy!  Wish me luck!